Machine



N. VLCHRISTENSEN FEED OFF THE ARM SEWING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March3, 1931.

Original Filed Oct. 20, 1926 N. V. CHRISTENSEN FEED OFF THE ARM SEWINGMACHINE March 3, 1931. Re. 17,988

Original Filed Oct. 20, 1926 4 SheetsSheet 2 Y I "I I .V 0O N: p w r 4 E"I \l R i w 3:

1 I I M 1 r 1 I 1 E 1 Q3 w i I 0 If W E Ill h m m1 H w N. v. CHRISTENSENFEED OFF THE ARM SEWING MACHINE March 3, 1931.

4 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Oct. 20, 1926 N. VQCHRISTENSEN FEED OFFTHE ARM SEWING MACHINE March 3, 1931. Re. 17,988

Original Filed Oct. 20, 1926 4'Sheets-Sheet 4' abtozmq Reissuecl Mar. 3,1931 UNITED, STATES PATENT" orries Norman v. cameraman, or CHICAGO,rumors, assmnpa r'o Union SPECIAL MA- CHINE COMPANY, or CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS rEEn-oFF-TIIE-Ama SEWING MACH NEOriginal No. 1,718,411, dated June 25, 1929, Serial No. 142,939, filedOctober 20, 1926. Application for reissue filed December 6, 1929. SerialNo. 412,270.

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in a sewing machine of the type shown in the application of Norman V. Christensen andHarold J. Le Vesconte, filed February 16, 1925, Serial No. 9,584,patented December 24, 1929 No. 1,741,095. The machine of the pri orapplication is particularly adapted for stitching tubular parts, such assleeves or the leg portions of a garment. The work supporting arm issuspended by a depending member, which in turn is carried by theoverhanging portion of a bracket. The

main shaft is directly above this depending member and projects over theupper end thereof so that the looper mechanism and the feeding mechanismin the work supporting arm may be operated by devices actuated by themain shaft, which are comparatively few in number. In this priormachine, the work supporting arm is located in a vertical plane whichcuts a vertical plane containing the main shaft at an acute angle.

An object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the abovetype wherein the depending member is inclined away from the supportingbracket so as to increase the'clearance space for the arm of theoperator between said depending member and the bracket on which thesewing machine unit is mounted.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the abovetype wherein the work supporting armis disposed in a' vertical planewhich is substantially parallel with the vertical plane containing themain shaft.

111 the drawings which show by way of il lustati on one embodiment ofthe invention I Figure 1 a view partly in plan and partly in horizontalsection showing a sewing machine embodying the improvements;

Fig. 2. is a view partly in section and partly in side elevation of themachine;

Fig. 8 is a view of the machine taken from the end of the worksupporting arm where it is supported, and

Fig. 1 is a sectional view through the housing for supporting the needlebar and showiii the actuating mechanism therefor.

, Tl1e invention is directed broadly toa sewing niachine'whic'h isadapted for stitching tubular articles, such as sleeves or the leg -portio'1;1s of garments. To this end, the machine is provided with a worksupporting arm around which the material may be formed into a tubularportion and this tubular portion as it is formed, fed along the arm byafeeding mechanism and is stitched as the material le'ayesthe end of thework supporting arm. The Work supporting arm 1s suspended so that the.m'aterial can pass underneath the same and be formedaround the arm intotubular shape. The main frame bf the machine contains an upper framemember forming a part of an overhanging bracket base, and located inthis frame memher is the main actuating shaft. At one end "of this framemember carrying the actuating shaft, is an inclined depending member,and at the lower endof the depending member is a work supporting arnnThe work support- Ing arm projects laterally from this depending member,and the longitudinal axis of this work supporting arm lies in a verticalplane oifset from, but parallel with the vertical plane containing themain shaft, or substantially so. i The actuating mechanism for thelooper and the feed, which are located in this work supporting arm, islocated in this inclined depending,memben and a single train ofin'ech'anism'may be used for oscillating the looper shaft from the mainactuating shaft, andin fact, all of the operating parts for the loo erand'the feed, operate either in planes at right angles to the mainactuating shaft, or inplanes parallel to'the vertical plane ci'intainingthe actuating shaft. The bracket Base is sii'nila'i' to that shown andde scribed in the application filed by Messrs.

Christensen and Le'veseoia above referred as, and'the face thereofadjacent the work supporting arm is ciirved This curved face leads intoacurved face on the underside of the depending member, and togethertherewith forms an archway through which the arm of the operator beextended for guiding the articles as the y are being stitched. At thefree end of the work sup orting arm is the needle bar, and this needlebar is mounted in the supporting structure carried tiff the supportingtime are the upper cuter shaft 45 carries a belt wheel by whichit is l,creases the range of visibility of rotated, and adjacent the belt wheel5 is a hand wheel 6 of the usual construction. At the opposite end ofthe supporting frame 3 from the belt Wheel 5', there is an inclineddepending member 7 and this inclined dependingmember 7carries a Worksupporting arm 8 at the lower end thereof. The upper face 9 of thisdepending member? is inclined substantially at an angle of fort -fivedegrees to the vertical. This angle, 0 course, may

be varied. It will readily be seen that this inclination of thedepending member accomplishestwo results. It offsets the work supportingarm 8 from a vertical plane contain- 1 ing the actuating shaft so thatthe operator sitting adjacent the supported end of the work supportingarm may get a clear vision of the free end of the work supporting armwhere the stitching takes place. This inclin ing of the depending memberreatly inthe work supporting arm; that is, the operator may see the worksupporting arm at a point quite close to the depending member and thusmore cliiciently guide the edges of the sections of fabric which are tobe stitched into tubular form. While the machine is particularly adaptedfor forming tubular parts, it Will be understood, of course, that it maybe used for the stitching of any articles, and it is particularly usefulwhere the stitching may pass directly from onearticle on to another, so

that there may be a substantially continuous; flow of the articles fromthe machine passing alon and ofl from the end of the work supportingarm.

The under face 10 of the depending portion which carries the work suporting arm is curved, and the face 11 oi the supporting bracket base islikewise curved, 'andthese two curves unite to form an archway, whichgives a very roomy space for the arm of the operator to guide thematerial at. the inner.

face of the work supportingarm. This face of the supporting bracket baseis more widely spaced from the work supporting arm atthe end thereofwhere it is supported than at the free end of the work sup orting arm.This is accomplished by the siiaping of the supporting bracket base. Itis necessary to providefample room for the arm of the operator at thesupported end of the work supporting arm. At the free end, however, ofthe work supporting arm, it is only necessary to have proper clearancefor the material to pass.

housing 12 is a needle-bar 13, carrying, as

shown in the drawings, two needles, 14 and 15. The needle bar isactuated by a lever 16a connected by a link 17 to the. needle bar, andthis lever is inturn actuated by a crank 16 inthe main actuating shaft 4through a link 20 which is connected to the lever.

Cooperating with the needles beneath the work support are two loopers21. There is a separate looper for each needle, and thus the machine asillustrated is particularly adapted for forming two independent parallellines of stitching. It will be understood, of course, that thisstitching mechanism may be widely varied, so as to adapt the machine todifferent characters of stitching. The loopers 21 are carried by alooper shaft 23 mounted in suitable hearings in the work supporting arm8. Mounted on the end of the mainactuating shaft 4 is an eccentricmember 24, and a link'25 connected to this eccentric member 24., is inturn connected to an-arm on the looper supporting shaft 23 foroscillating the looper supporting shaft. It will be noted that the mainactuating shaft can be connected directly to the looper supportingshaft, and that the plane in which'this actuating link 25 lies and movesis at right angles to the axis of both the actuating shaft and thelooper supporting shaft. I It is understood, of course, that this looperactuating mech'anism'may be varied to derive the desired movements forthe looper, but there will always be the advjautage of these parts whichtransmit the moven'lents from one shaft to the other being in a plane atright angles to the axis of the shaft, so that there can be no crampingor objectionable angular thrusts brought to bear v of a pitman 26cooperating with an eccentric on the main actuating shaft 4. This pitmanis connected to an a rm 27 carried by a rock shaft 28. --The rock shaft28 carries an arm 29 which is connected by a link 30 to a collar 31 onthe looper supporting shaft 23. This collar 31 is freely mounted on thelooper supporting shaft and is located between spaced collars 32, 32fixed to the looper supporting shaft. This mechanism gives an endwis'emovement to the lo-oper supporting shaft, and thus imparts the needleavoiding movement to the loopers.

The material is fed along the work support by a feed dog 33 carried by afeed bar iii. The feed bar-3a is: pivotally mounted on a link 35supported by a lever 36. The feed bar slides on a fulcrum pivot pin 37and is moved cndwise by means of a link 88 connected to an arm 39 on therock shaft 28. Thus it is that this rock shaft 28 moves the feed barendwise, and also the looper endwise. The plane of movement of the partscarried by the rock shaft 28 is parallel with the axis of the actuatingshaft. The feed bar is raised and lowered by a pitnian lO cooperatingwith an eccentric on the main actuating shaft 4-. T his pitman 4:0 isconnected to a rock lever ll n'io-unted on a. stud carried by the frameof the machine. Said rock lever carries another arm to which a link 42is connected, and the link 42 at its lower end is connected to the lever36. This rock lever ll oscillates about an axis parallel with thelongitudinal axis of the main actuating shaft.

From the above it will be apparent that the actuating parts move inplanes either parallel to the longitudinal axis of the main shaft or atright angles thereto, and this brings about the advantages abovereferred to.

It will be apparent that this feeding mechanism may be varied so as toprovide a di'lferential feed for certain classes of work. It will alsobe obvious that the actuating mechanism for the needles, the loopers andthe feed may be varied, and the shaping of the frame parts and theproportions thereof may be varied, without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A sewing machine comprising a substan tially horizontal frame, a mainactuating shaft mounted in said frame and carrying at one end thereof anactuating member, the other end of said shaft being enclosed within saidframe, a bracket base on which said supporting frame is mounted, saidbase be lug located at one side of a vertical plane passing through thelongitudinal axis of the shaft and attached to said frame from end toend. thereof, a member depending from the end of said frame enclosingthe actuating shaft, said member being inclined away from said base andspaced therefrom so as to provide a clearance space between saiddepending member and the bracket base for the arm of the operator, awork supporting arm carried at the lower end of said depending memberand extending in a direction substantially parallel with thelongitudinal axis of said actuating shaft and means for supporting theneedle bar over the free end of the work supporting arm. I

2. A sewing machine comprising a substantially horizontal member, a mainactuating shaft carried thereby and extending longitudinally thereof, aneedle head at one end of said horizontal member, a needle actuatingmechanism in said head operated from said main shaft, a. memberdepending from the other end of said horizontal member, a bracket baseonwhich said horizontal member is mounted, said base being located atone side of a vertical plane passing through the longitudinal axis ofthe shaft and attached to said horizontal member from end to endthereof, said depending member being inclined away from said base andspaced therefrom so as to provide clearance space between said dependingmember and the bracket base for the arm of the operator, a worksupporting arm carried at the lower end of said depending member andextending in the general direction of the actuating shaft andterminating beneath said needle head.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

NORMAN V. CHRISTENSEN.

